This director lacks vision.

Chapter 311 Retirement

After having dinner with Cui Tiejun and others, Jiang Yifeng took Song Zuer to Shu Chang's house.

The female lead for "The Witch" has been cast as Tian Qianwei, even though Jiang Yifeng adheres to the principles of fairness and impartiality.

In the end, Meng Ziyi and Nazara's faction won.

Jiang Yifeng not only needed to comfort Song Zuer, but also Shu Chang and Liu Yifei behind her.

Without Jing Tian, ​​the "Very Sweet" duo wouldn't work.

Shu Chang is on her period again, so it's not very convenient.

The final act of the night was the dazzling performance of the "Radiant Lights" duo.

The "Radiant Colors" duo is the name Jiang Yifeng gave to Liu Yifei and Yang Caiyu.

On the one hand, they started with their names and came up with a pun;

On the other hand, it also laments the fleeting nature of time, implying that Yang Caiyu often impersonates Liu Xiaoli.

Of course, Jiang Yifeng also subtly hinted at this in the group's name.

Once Meng Ziyi's fake cousin is fully exposed, she can be brought into the group, and Li Yitong can also participate.

That night, Jiang Yifeng paid a heavy price to persuade Daoli and finally gained the understanding of Shu Chang and Liu Yifei.

Seeing the three women cleaning up the mess, Jiang Yifeng came to the living room with satisfaction.

I found Song Zuer sitting in the living room watching TV, her little face flushed, clearly having absorbed some knowledge from what she was watching.

Jiang Yifeng casually asked, "What TV show is this? Is the female lead Ma Sichun?"

Song Zuer coughed and said, "It's Ma Sichun. The TV series is called 'Dad, I'm Pregnant with Your Child.' I was a little curious when I saw the title, so I took a look."

Upon hearing this name, not only was Song Zuer curious, but Jiang Yifeng also became interested.

All I can say is that TV dramas from this era have some merit.

Even this name passed the review.

Jiang Yifeng sat down and watched half an episode, and found that this show was not just a sham.

Ma Sichun plays a young girl who falls in love with an older man played by Guo Xiaodong. Because of the significant age gap, the female lead likes to call the male lead "Dad".

After the two fell in love, the female lead gave birth to a child for the male lead.

Jiang Wenli is ruthless enough to let her niece debut in a drama like this. She's really something...

Jiang Yifeng got up to take a shower, but then heard Song Zuer whisper, "Daddy~"

Looking at Song Zuer's bright, sparkling eyes, Jiang Yifeng couldn't help but sigh, "This TV series has really corrupted me!"

Unexpectedly, Song Zuer explained, "I saw my cousin often call you that, so I just followed her example."

Jiang Yifeng: "..."

Shu Chang is petite, and Jiang Yifeng loves to hold her and play with her.

The two did indeed have these kinds of conversations.

Song Zuer learned it.

It can only be said that nurturing something is a comprehensive process, requiring a balanced development of moral, intellectual, physical, labor, and aesthetic qualities...

Over the next few days, Song Zu'er used the excuse of losing the witch competition to stay by Jiang Yifeng's side, calling him by various affectionate names and asking for comfort from her "daddy".

Tian Qianwei felt nauseous just looking at it.

Jiang Yifeng didn't kick them out. Having a pretty girl acting cute every day was a kind of fun in life.

After all, there's a lot to prepare for the Pacific Rim movie, and the work can be quite tedious.

On the morning of March 2nd, Jiang Yifeng arrived at the Souhu Building to attend the Souhu Group's annual meeting.

As a senior executive of the group, Jiang Yifeng had not attended any group meetings for more than half a year.

He had thought this meeting was for rewards and celebrations, since Sohu Group was doing much better than in his previous life.

But after listening to Zhang Chaoyang's speech, Jiang Yifeng realized that Souhu Group seemed to be failing again.

Aside from its Weibo account, which holds over 80% of the market share and is the undisputed industry leader, the market share of its other businesses is declining.

Sohu Changyou's performance declined, its flagship game Tian Long Ba Bu saw a drop in revenue, and its new game A Chinese Ghost Story performed poorly.

Many websites, such as Sohu Portal, Sohu Entertainment, Sohu Real Estate, and 17173, have been impacted by the mobile app market and have gradually fallen behind in the mobile internet era.

As for Sogou, it's a money pit, with a lot of money invested but little output, and it can't shake Baidu's position in the search field at all.

Although Sohu Video still holds a 36% market share, ranking first across the entire network, its lead is narrowing as iQiyi, Tencent Video, and Youku are all making efforts to improve their performance.

Zhang Chaoyang unusually lost his temper at the meeting and reprimanded many people.

After the meeting, Zhang Chaoyang stopped Jiang Yifeng and chatted with him alone in his office.

He poured Jiang Yifeng a cup of tea and asked, "The group is facing difficulties in all aspects of its business right now. Do you have any good ideas?"

Jiang Yifeng shook his head and said, "No, that's not true. My suggestion is to cut some businesses, adjust the structure, and focus on developing the two major platforms, Weibo and video."

Business development, regardless of the field, will face homogeneous competition.

This is especially true in the internet industry.

Once a business model becomes popular, a group of companies will immediately imitate it.

When Jiang Yifeng first joined Souhu, he used the precognitive advantage of being a reborn individual to help Souhu Group expand its business significantly.

However, as time goes by, these business models will be imitated by other internet companies, and Sohu Group's advantages will diminish or even disappear.

Take video websites as an example. iQiyi created "Leisurely Holiday," which received poor reviews and sparked controversy, while also tarnishing the reputations of Huang Lei and Han Geng.

However, the show remains quite popular, attracting many new customers.

From a business perspective, iQiyi's production of this program was a success, as it made more users aware of the existence of iQiyi as a video website.

iQiyi later produced films like "Puberty," using borderline elements to attract customers. This was also imitating Jiang Yifeng's "A Little Wish," which he had previously filmed on Sohu Video.

Youku and Tencent Video are also following up.

Other platforms are also making efforts in the variety show sector.

For example, last summer, the show "The Voice of China" became a huge hit, with the finale's viewership exceeding 10%. Tencent Video partnered with Zejiang TV, not only buying the exclusive online streaming rights to the show but also packaging the cover songs performed on the show and making them available on QQ Music.

In January of this year, Hunan TV launched the "I Am a Singer" program and took the opportunity to launch its own online video website, Mango TV, which was also a great success.

In contrast, Sohu Video, apart from the content produced by Fengxing Media, has launched two indoor variety shows under its new variety show brand "Smiling Fox," both of which have only achieved mediocre broadcast results.

As one business gains while the other loses, it will naturally be overtaken by other platforms.

Moreover, viewers on video websites are not loyal; they will go to whichever website has the best content.

Hearing Jiang Yifeng's words, Zhang Chaoyang sighed and said, "Don't laugh at me, but it's been a while since I've properly managed the company."

I always thought our business was on the rise, but things have turned out to be quite bad.

Jiang Yifeng smiled and said, "I can tell. Fengxing Media's annual meeting was held on January 5th. I was in the United States at the time and participated in the meeting remotely via video."

It's already March, and Soohu Group is only now holding its annual meeting to summarize the past year's work and plan for the next year.

Actually, you can wait until January next year, and hold the two years' worth of meetings together, which will save you time and effort.

Why hold an annual meeting in March? It's too much trouble.

Zhang Chaoyang: "..."

Sohu Group didn't hold its annual meeting until March, and it wasn't until almost the end of the first quarter that they started to plan for the new year.

In the fast-paced internet industry, this is an outrageous thing to do; only Zhang Chaoyang could pull off something like this.

He is not a particularly career-driven person.

After developing a hobby of fishing, Zhang Chaoyang became even less attentive to the management of the group.

In addition, due to Soohoo's culture of kindness, employees rarely work overtime.

With all these factors combined, the decline in the group's business is to be expected.

After being teased by Jiang Yifeng, Zhang Chaoyang glared at him and complained, "That's why I envy you. You have Wen Lingfeng to help you manage the company."

“Even when someone is supervising me, even when I’m filming, I still make time to attend the company’s weekly meetings. My office team has seven people, and they report to me on various aspects of their work every week,” Jiang Yifeng continued. “Unlike you, who goes fishing at various reservoirs and disappears for more than a month at a time.”

Seeing Zhang Chaoyang's embarrassed expression, Jiang Yifeng said, "I'm not trying to mock you, but I suggest you learn from Wang Shi and simply hire a professional management team to manage the company so you can retire."

Your attitude of not wanting to quit but also not wanting to take responsibility is actually not good for the company.

You'll be 50 soon; wouldn't it be great to retire and enjoy life?

Upon hearing Jiang Yifeng's suggestion, Zhang Chaoyang fell into deep thought.

After a long pause, Zhang Chaoyang suddenly changed the subject and said, "I heard from Zhao Zhicheng that Jade Dynasty hired your monster effects company to do the special effects, and you deliberately quoted them a price they couldn't accept?"

With Zhang Chaoyang's support, the 60-episode series "Zhu Xian" has been filmed and is now in post-production.

Out of consideration for his reputation, Zhao Zhicheng first hired a monster effects company to do the post-production effects, but he was shocked by the quote. The total price was 1.2 million yuan, with an average price of 200 million yuan per episode.

Jiang Yifeng took a sip of tea and said, "The monster effects company's prices have already increased. This is a normal price increase and it's not targeting Jade Dynasty."

Our special effects are good, so we should raise prices, improve employee benefits, and attract more talent.

Actually, there was no need for them to hire us for *Zhu Xian*. Given the quality of the show, any third-rate special effects company would have sufficed.

Monster Effects has already produced special effects for films and television series such as Pacific Rim, Stranger Things, and Prehistoric Monsters, and has gained both fame and strength.

The success of Stranger Things in North America, in particular, made many people in the industry aware of monster effects companies.

Some overseas films hire Monster Company for special effects in order to save costs.

For example, a small portion of the special effects for Warner Bros.' film "Man of Steel" was done by Monsters.

Although these special effects jobs are still mostly repetitive and low-end, being able to participate in the special effects production of Hollywood blockbusters is itself a testament to their capabilities.

Therefore, starting this year, Jiang Yifeng increased the special effects price for Monster Company.

Even so, it's still cheaper than Hollywood special effects, and some foreign companies still outsource some of their work to Monsters.

Hearing Jiang Yifeng's explanation, Zhang Chaoyang nodded and said, "Actually, within the group, especially within Sohu Video, many employees support you."

They want me to retire so you can run the company.

Every employee wants to work under a good leader, as it relates to their career development and income.

The average income of employees at Fengxing Media is now higher than that of Sohu Group, not to mention the early veterans who followed Jiang Yifeng and are all now quite wealthy.

Now that Fengxing Media is gaining momentum, Jiang Yifeng's reputation in the industry has surpassed that of Zhang Chaoyang.

Indeed, many employees want Jiang Yifeng to become CEO and lead everyone to achieve better development.

In the past, Jiang Yifeng was Zhang Chaoyang's "loyal subject," and upon hearing this, he would have quickly offered an explanation.

Jiang Yifeng just laughed and said, "Stop talking nonsense. I can't even manage my own company, how can I have time to manage the group?"

You should hire a professional manager to handle it.

Being an emperor emeritus is quite comfortable.

Zhang Chaoyang took a sip of tea and said very seriously, "Actually, even if you hadn't said it, I've been thinking about retiring."

The TV series "Zhu Xian" is my last act of defiance.

If this drama is successful and Huanrui can make it work, then it proves that I still have good judgment, and we can continue to work on it for a few more years.

If I fail, then I should really consider retiring and enjoying life.

I'll entrust the management of Sohu Video to you; if you're too busy, find a manager yourself.

As for the group's other businesses, I will find someone else to take them over.

(End of this chapter)